When 6,077 extremely fit Army officer and enlisted personnel
visit a three-day event, that event becomes a market for the Special Operations
Recruiting Battalion and the Medical Recruiting Brigade.

U.S. Army Recruiting Command’s SORB and MRB celebrated the
30th annual Army Ten Miler with dozens of runners and an awareness
campaign for its active-duty missions. The Oct. 12 race and Oct. 10-11
registration expo featured two interactive displays, the Aviation Adventure and
the Special Operations vans, and booth space with recruiters from both units.

At Ten Milers before 2013, the SORB and MRB had booth space
at the runner’s registration area. Last year, the sequester budget cuts halted
those outreach efforts. After the 2013 race, New York City Recruiting Battalion
commander Lt. Col. Michael Stinnett had a conversation with Maj. Gen. Allen
Batschelet, who had just run his first Army Ten Miler as the USAREC commanding
general.

“After last year’s run the CG and I were talking about our
times,” he said. “The CG asked me, ‘Hey Mike what can we do to make this run
better for USAREC?’ So I put some ideas together. I said let’s get some
national assets out here, let’s maximize USAREC, put together brigade teams.”

As these situations go in the Army, Stinnett could predict
what was coming next.

“The CG liked the ideas and he said, ‘Okay, you’re in
charge, you got it,’” Stinnett said. He became the task force leader, managing
a group of recruiters from each brigade to set up the assets and interact with
the 35,000 race participants.

“We needed a bigger presence here,” he said. “Let’s get the
assets lined up and showcase the Army.”

Like any other USAREC outreach event of this size, the intent
was awareness of the SORB’s and MRB’s missions. Business cards and giveaway
items flew off the tables at the runner’s expo and the Army Ten Miler Hooah
Zone after the race.

“We’re glad for the emphasis on promoting our mission here.
I’d like to get a better display for the booth at the expo,” said Command Sgt.
Maj. Rene Hutchins of 1st Medical Recruiting Battalion. “We’re debuting the new
medical marketing semi truck at Virginia Tech later this month. That would be a
good item for the race next year.”

Part of Batschelet’s intent was to have brigade teams in the
race to build esprit de corps and combat an Army stereotype that USAREC duty doesn’t
include time for PT.

Capt. Abigail Tassa, Bronx Company commander in New York
City Battalion, was the fastest USAREC female runner at 1:18:47. The top men’s
runner for the command was Staff Sgt. Daniel Kear of Kansas City Battalion, in
at 57:00.

The registered USAREC teams from 1st, 2nd and 3rd Recruiting
Brigades did well in context of the competition. The vast majority of teams,
whether mixed or mens, are composed of an installation’s or division’s best
runners, drawing from a vast pool of up to tens of thousands of Soldiers.

The 1st and 3rd Brigade teams competed in the active-duty
mixed category. Their respective times of 5:02:36 and 5:43:31 placed 29th and
37th out of 52 teams. The 2nd Brigade team (4:54:37) was 23rd of 39 teams in
the active-duty men’s group.

Some of the Army Ten Miler’s 26,238 finishers visit the Special Operations Recruiting Battalion booth in the Hooah Zone Oct. 12 at the Pentagon. Photo by Brian Lepley

Staff Sgt. Daniel Kear (293) of Kansas City Recruiting Battalion was USAREC's top finisher at the Army Ten Miler at 57:00. Photo courtesy of Daniel Kear